Zone (play)

Zone is a French-language three-act play written by French-Canadian author Marcel Dubé. Written when Dubé was 21 and based on memories of his childhood,Zone revolves around a gang of teenaged Québécois criminals who sell contraband cigarettes, and the internal conflicts that ultimately tear the group apart. The title "Zone" refers to the fact that each of the smugglers are stuck in a zone of society from which it is almost impossible to escape.

Characters

Ciboulette: Unloved by her parents, Ciboulette is the youngest group member at 16 years of age, and the only female in the play. She is in love with Tarzan but does not reveal this to him until the end. Her character's naïve hope for a relationship with Tarzan embodies the "extreme idealism of youth". Ciboulette's character is tragically punished for standing up for love.

Zone (band)

Zone was an all-female pop rock band started in Sapporo, Japan in 1999. Although it initially started as a dance group, they turned to an all-female band. Zone has been categorized in a new genre called "bandol" (a portmanteau of the words band and idol). The band was started and managed by Studio RunTime and released their first single, "Good Days", under the major record label Sony Records, on February 7, 2001. The group has officially ended on March 2, 2013.

Their most famous song is "Secret Base (Kimi ga Kureta Mono)", released on August 8, 2001. The single sold about 744,000 copies on Japanese Oricon charts.

History

Zone started off with eight members in 1997, then reduced to six and finally to four – Miyu Nagase, Mizuho Saito, Maiko Sakae, and Takayo Ookoshi – by the time they released their first indie disc in 1999.

Tadayuki Ominami, a representative of Sony Records, noticed that the crowd reaction to the group's debut concert was particularly enthusiastic. Initially, Zone was solely focused on singing and dancing. Ominami watched a live video of the band playing with instruments at the KomeKome Klub and felt that, due to the overabundance of dance groups, Zone had the makings of a breakthrough act, provided they could play their instruments as well as sing and dance.